Reconfiguration of the Nuclear Weapons Complex

ACTION: Notice to Separate the Current Reconfiguration Programmatic
Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) into Two Separate Analyses: Tritium Supply
and Recycling, and Stockpile Stewardship and Management

SUMMARY: In January 1991, the then Secretary of Energy announced that the
Department would prepare a programmatic environmental impact statement (PEIS)
examining alternatives for the reconfiguration of the nuclear weapons complex
(the Complex). The framework for the Reconfiguration PEIS was described in the
January 1991 Nuclear Weapons Complex Reconfiguration Study (Reconfiguration Study),
a detailed examination of alternatives for the future Complex. Because of the
significant changes in the world since January 1991, especially with regard to
projected future requirements for the United States' nuclear weapons stockpile,
the Department has concluded that the framework described in the Reconfiguration
Study does not exist today. Contributing factors to this conclusion include
public comments at the September-October 1993 PEIS scoping meetings, the fact
that no new nuclear weapons production is required for the foreseeable future,
budget constraints, and the Department's decision to prepare a separate PEIS on
Storage and Disposition of Weapons-Usable Fissile Nuclear Materials. As a result
of these changed circumstances, the Department is proposing to separate the
Reconfiguration PEIS into two PEISs: (1) a Tritium Supply and Recycling PEIS to
be completed in November 1995; and (2) a Stockpile Stewardship and Management PEIS.

Stockpile stewardship includes activities required to maintain a high level of
confidence in the safety, reliability, and performance of nuclear weapons in the
absence of underground testing, and to be prepared to test weapons if directed by
the President. Stockpile management activities include maintenance, evaluation,
repair or replacement of weapons in the existing stockpile. To define a new
stockpile stewardship and management proposal, the Department is reviewing its
nuclear weapons complex stockpile stewardship and management activities. This
review will take into account the latest information concerning current and
projected future stockpile requirements. To assist the Department in defining a
new proposal, the Department intends to hold a public meeting in early 1995 to
receive comments on how to conduct the scoping process for the Stockpile
Stewardship and Management PEIS, and to have preliminary discussions on potential
alternatives. This will be followed by public scoping meetings later in 1995.

In the meantime, the Department will continue to evaluate alternatives for
tritium supply and recycling in a Tritium Supply and Recycling PEIS. While the
focus of this PEIS will be on alternatives for a long-term, assured supply of
tritium, the PEIS also will include an assessment of the environmental and
institutional impacts associated with using one or more commercial light water
reactors for tritium production as a contingency in the event of a national
emergency. Specific commercial reactors will not be identified in this PEIS.

The purpose of this notice is to provide the public with an update regarding
DOE's intentions for National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) review of elements
of the future Complex, and to request comments on the Tritium Supply and Recycling
PEIS proposal. An Implementation Plan (IP) for the Tritium Supply and Recycling
PEIS will be issued after comments on this notice have been received and considered.
The IP will explain more fully the scope of the Tritium Supply and Recycling PEIS.

DATES: Comments, whether written, recorded on the program's toll-free telephone
number, or submitted electronically, must be postmarked or received by
November 26, 1994
to ensure
consideration. Late comments will be considered to the extent practicable.
The program's toll-free telephone number is 1-800-776-2765. Instructions
on submitting comments electronically can be found in the Supplementary
Information section of this notice.

ADDRESSES: Written comments on the Tritium Supply and Recycling PEIS
proposal, requests for further information on the Tritium Supply
and Recycling program, requests for copies of the revised Tritium Supply
and Recycling PEIS Implementation Plan (IP) (when available), and requests
regarding the Stockpile Stewardship and Management PEIS should be sent to:

Background. In January 1991, the goal of the Reconfiguration program was, as
it is now, to make the Complex smaller, less diverse, and less costly to operate.
At the time, the projected production levels were much smaller than historic levels,
but much larger than they are today. The document that provided the framework for
the original proposal was the January 1991 Reconfiguration Study. That document
was the result of many months of effort by a task force which thoroughly reviewed
the status and capabilities of the weapons complex against projected future
requirements. As a result of that effort, the Department envisioned that the
future Complex would consist of fewer sites, and that functions might be relocated
to achieve consolidation, greater efficiency, and significant long-term cost
savings. Indeed, as a result of the Secretary's decision last year approving
the nonnuclear consolidation proposal (which had been separated from the original
Reconfiguration PEIS effort), weapons complex functions will be terminated at
three sites and significant cost savings will be achieved within a short period
of time.

The purpose of the Reconfiguration PEIS was to establish the locations for the
future weapons complex functions. It was envisioned that, once future mission
locations were established through the PEIS process, project-specific environmental
analyses would follow the PEIS and cover in detail the projects necessary
to implement the PEIS decisions at each site.

Within the Reconfiguration PEIS scope, potential relocation and consolidation of
the "nuclear" functions of the complex (i.e., plutonium and uranium component
fabrication and processing, weapons assembly and disassembly, tritium supply and
recycling, and fissile materials storage) were being analyzed. In order to
relocate any of these functions at the assumed levels of production, major new
construction would have been required, entailing significant (billions of dollars)
"up-front" cost with a "pay-back" period significantly longer than for nonnuclear
consolidation.

With the end of the Cold War, the projected long hiatus in the need for new
nuclear weapons production, and the budget constraints that are anticipated to
continue for the foreseeable future, the framework presented in the January 1991
Reconfiguration Study no longer fits current circumstances or supports any
realistic proposal for reconfiguration of the nuclear weapons complex. Therefore,
the Department intends to separate the Reconfiguration proposal into two parts,
and will prepare a PEIS on each part. The first PEIS is the Tritium Supply and
Recycling PEIS, which will address the need for tritium. The second is the
Stockpile Stewardship and Management PEIS, which will address the rest of the
complex. To assist in the development of a Stockpile Stewardship and Management
proposal, the Department intends to involve stakeholders in early 1995 through
a meeting in advance of formal scoping. The goal of this approach is to enable
stakeholders to have an active role in developing the Stockpile Stewardship and
Management proposal, rather than reacting to a proposal developed solely by the
Department. The Department expects to develop a proposal after this initial
meeting, and to issue a Notice of Intent before public scoping meetings
later in 1995.

The Department currently has no capability for the production of tritium, which
decays at a rate of approximately five percent per year, and which is required for
every active weapon in the stockpile. Current projections indicate that new tritium
is required to be available in the 2011-2015 time frame. Depending upon the
alternative selected, it could take up to fifteen years or more for a tritium
source, once selected, to begin producing tritium. Not only is planning for a
new, assured tritium supply required to begin now to meet projected stockpile
requirements, but the Department must meet a statutory deadline of March 1, 1995,
to issue a PEIS addressing tritium supply alternatives. Therefore, the Department
intends to separate the tritium supply and recycling alternatives from the future
Stockpile Stewardship and Management proposal. The following discussion outlines
the history of the Reconfiguration program, and the current proposal for tritium
supply and recycling.

Original Reconfiguration Plan (February 1991 to July 1993)

An NOI to prepare a PEIS for Reconfiguration of the Nuclear Weapons Complex was
published in the Federal Register on February 11, 1991 (56 FR 5590). That NOI
proposed to study the options presented in the Nuclear Weapons Complex
Reconfiguration Study (DOE/DP-0083) of January 1991. A series of 15 public
scoping meetings were held around the country to solicit comments regarding
the Reconfiguration proposal. At that time, alternatives for a new tritium
supply facility were being evaluated in a separate New Production Reactor (NPR)
Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). In November 1991, however, in response
to nuclear weapons stockpile reductions which delayed the need for a new
tritium supply facility, the then Secretary of Energy announced that the analysis
of NPR alternatives would be incorporated into the Reconfiguration PEIS.

An IP for the Reconfiguration PEIS was published in February 1992. The IP
summarized the comments received during scoping, including incorporation of the NPR
analysis into Reconfiguration, described the scope of the Reconfiguration program, the
alternatives that were to be evaluated, and the methodology for preparing the PEIS.

Program Changes (July 1993 to April 1994)

After the publication of the original IP in February 1992, additional major
reductions in the nuclear weapons stockpile resulted in significant program changes.
As a result of these changes, a revised NOI for the PEIS was published in the Federal
Register on July 23, 1993 (58 FR 39528). Changes in the scope of the Reconfiguration
PEIS reflected the fact that the future Complex could be smaller and more integrated
than previously envisioned, and placed increased importance on stewardship of
existing special nuclear materials.

During the public scoping period from July-October 1993, many members of the public
questioned why the Department planned to analyze new nuclear weapon facilities in
general, and new nuclear weapon component fabrication facilities in particular,
given the lack of requirements for new nuclear weapons and an otherwise limited
workload. There was a perception among many members of the public that evaluation
of new facilities in the PEIS indicated an intention to construct those facilities
in a predetermined time frame. Based upon this feedback, and a resulting reevaluation
of known and projected requirements for weapons complex work for the next decade,
the Department believes that the lack of any foreseeable need for new nuclear weapons,
together with higher priority budget needs (both for the Department and the Nation),
make it unnecessary and inappropriate to consider most types of new weapons
production facilities, except for tritium facilities, at this time. Moreover,
the Department has been directed, both by the President and the Congress, to
establish a program for maintaining the safety and reliability of the nuclear
weapons stockpile without nuclear testing. This new program, entitled Stockpile
Stewardship, is expected to require new diagnostic facilities and capabilities.
As described above, efforts to formulate a new proposal for Stockpile Stewardship
and Management will be initiated in 1995.

In addition, a new, separate project has been initiated by the Secretary of
Energy to consider alternatives for: (1) long-term storage of separated fissile
nuclear materials (primarily plutonium and highly enriched uranium), whether
stored for defense purposes or surplus to defense needs; and (2) disposition of
surplus fissile nuclear materials. The environmental impacts associated with these
options are being analyzed in the Storage and Disposition of Weapons-Usable Fissile
Nuclear Materials PEIS, currently in preparation. The establishment of that
project has further reduced the scope of the previously-envisioned Reconfiguration
PEIS.

Current Proposal for Tritium Supply and Recycling

The proposal for tritium supply and recycling includes the evaluation of
technology and siting alternatives. The Department intends to identify a
preferred technology and siting alternative in the Draft Tritium Supply and
Recycling PEIS. Four different technologies to supply tritium in a new facility
will be assessed in the PEIS: Heavy Water Reactor (HWR); Modular High Temperature
Gas-Cooled Reactor (MHTGR); Advanced Light Water Reactor (ALWR) [both a large
reactor design and a smaller reactor design]; and Accelerator Production of
Tritium (APT).

Currently, five candidate sites are being considered for new tritium facilities:
the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL); the Nevada Test Site (NTS);
the Oak Ridge Reservation (ORR) in Tennessee; the Pantex Plant near Amarillo, Texas;
and the Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina.

The tritium recycling mission includes removing, separating, and purifying tritium
gas contained in tritium reservoirs from returned weapons, receiving new tritium
from the tritium supply plant, blending the recycled tritium and the new tritium,
and loading the tritium mixture into new or used reservoirs for shipment to the
Pantex Plant for weapons assembly operations. Currently, tritium recycling is
conducted at SRS. If a new tritium supply facility were to be located at SRS,
tritium recycling would stay at SRS and be upgraded. If a tritium supply facility
were constructed elsewhere, either a new tritium recycling facility would be
collocated with it and the facilities at SRS phased out (thus terminating the
defense mission at SRS), or the tritium recycling facilities at SRS would be
upgraded. No-action alternatives for each of the sites where tritium facilities
may be located will provide a baseline for comparison of the environmental impacts.

Additionally, the Department intends to include, in the Tritium Supply and
Recycling PEIS, an assessment of the environmental and institutional
impacts associated with using one or more commercial light water reactors
for tritium production as a contingency in the event of a national emergency.
While the purpose of the Tritium Supply and Recycling PEIS is focused on
assessing the reasonable alternatives for a government-owned, long-term,
assured supply of tritium, programmatic NEPA coverage of this contingency
option, which would only be needed in the event of a national emergency,
would ensure that the public is informed of the Department's overall planning
for meeting tritium requirements-- both contingency (until a long-term, assured
source is on line) and long-term. This analysis would be generic and would
not identify any specific commercial reactors that might be used if such an
option were ever required to be implemented.

An IP for the Tritium Supply and Recycling PEIS, to be issued after comments
on this notice have been received and reviewed, will explain more fully the
scope of the PEIS.

Public Involvement

The Department's initiatives for further public involvement in the Tritium Supply
and Recycling PEIS are intended to provide the public complete, accurate, and
timely information, and to facilitate effective participation in the NEPA process.
The initiatives include a series of fact sheets describing various aspects of the
Tritium Supply and Recycling PEIS as well as other program activities.
These fact sheets will be mailed to those on the program mailing list throughout
the remainder of 1994 and 1995. To provide substantial opportunities for
feedback to the Department, the initiatives include the use of a toll-free
telephone number; placement of program information, including this notice, on an
electronic bulletin board to enable comments and feedback to be transmitted
electronically; and a speakers bureau to fulfill requests for DOE officials to
speak with the public. In addition, once the Tritium Supply and Recycling draft
PEIS is published, the public will be invited to review and comment on the document.
During the comment period, the Department will conduct a series of interactive
workshops to provide further explanation of information in the document and to
provide the public with an opportunity to present comments, questions, and concerns,
and to discuss them with DOE officials.

DOE is in the process of updating the mailing list for the Tritium Supply and
Recycling program and the Stockpile Stewardship and Management program. A fact
sheet on this notice, along with a mailback response form, is being sent to all
those on the current Reconfiguration mailing list. The purpose of the mailback
response form is to allow individuals and organizations to indicate their
continuing interest in receiving information regarding either the Tritium Supply
and Recycling program or the Stockpile Stewardship and Management program.
Interested parties wishing to remain on the mailing list for either the Tritium
Supply and Recycling program or the Stockpile Stewardship and Management program
must complete and return the mailback response form or call 1-800-776-2765 with
the same request.

Environmental Issues.
The Tritium Supply and Recycling PEIS will identify and
analyze direct, indirect, and cumulative impacts resulting from the tritium supply
and recycling alternatives. These include potential impacts from constructing and
operating the proposed facilities, including: impacts to air quality, water
resources, plants and animals, land use, historic resources, archaeological sites;
socioeconomic impacts; impacts associated with generating radiological and
nonradiological wastes; impacts associated with transporting radioactive materials;
and the potential consequences of both normal and accidental radiological
and nonradiological releases on the public and worker health and safety.

Tritium Supply and Recycling PEIS Schedule.
The IP for the Tritium Supply and Recycling PEIS will be completed after
comments on this announcement have been considered. It is expected to be
completed in January 1995. The Draft Tritium Supply and Recycling PEIS, which
will include preferred alternatives for tritium supply and recycling functions,
will be completed no later than March 1, 1995. Following the publication of the
Draft Tritium Supply and Recycling PEIS, public hearings (interactive workshops)
will be held, and a Final Tritium Supply and Recycling PEIS is expected to be
completed by November 1995.

Tritium Supply and Recycling Decisions.
No sooner than 30 days after issuance of the Final Tritium Supply and Recycling
PEIS, DOE will issue a Record of Decision (ROD) to document its decisions.
The ROD will explain how DOE has balanced environmental considerations against
other relevant factors, such as economic and technical considerations, and the
Department's statutory mission, in reaching its decision. Following the ROD,
project-specific NEPA documents will be prepared as necessary to support actual
implementation of the ROD.

Comments
All interested parties are invited to submit their comments on the Tritium
Supply and Recycling PEIS by regular mail as explained in the section entitled
"Addresses" at the beginning of this notice, or by calling the Tritium Supply
and Recycling toll free number at 1-800-776-2765. Instructions will be given
on how to record your comments. As an alternative, comments can also be
submitted electronically by using the Federal Information Exchange bulletin
board and following the instructions listed below:

Available 24 hours a day (toll free: 7:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.
eastern time, weekdays). A Help Line, (301) 975-0103, is available weekdays
between 8:30 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. eastern time, except Federal holidays.

Costs:

Free, no cost to users. No telephone, registration, access,
or downloading fees.

Issued in Washington, D.C. this 24th day of October 1994, for the United States
Department of Energy.